Another Party Leader in New Zealand Resigns as Campaign Turns Tumultuous

Image

Metiria Turei and James Shaw of the Green Party in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, last week. Mrs. Turei resigned from her role as co-leader on Wednesday, leaving Mr. Shaw in control of the party before elections.CreditHagen Hopkins/Getty Images

By Charlotte Graham-McLay

Aug. 9, 2017

HONG KONG — A suddenly tumultuous New Zealand election campaign was rocked by the resignation of another party leader on Wednesday, just over a week after the leader of the country’s largest opposition party also quit.

The resignation on Wednesday of Metiria Turei, the Green Party’s co-leader, came after her party surged in the polls following her candid admission last month that she had lied to the government about her living situation while on welfare as a single mother in the 1990s.

The revelation stole the political spotlight from the larger Labour Party before the Sept. 23 general election, and started a polarizing conversation in New Zealand about poverty and the challenges of surviving on welfare.

But Mrs. Turei’s admissions also led opponents and reporters to dig into her past, prompting more revelations about her living situation while on welfare and the disclosure that she had lied about where she lived in order to cast a vote for a friend seeking office.

She said on Wednesday that she would leave her party post because her family was suffering “unbearable” scrutiny after the disclosures. Her resignation, announced during an interview with Radio New Zealand, a public broadcaster, came after it questioned her via email earlier in the day about her past.

She remains a member of Parliament until the election, when she will retire.

She said on Wednesday that the party had not asked her to quit and that she was only doing so because of the impact on her family.

Her co-leader, James Shaw, will now lead the Greens into the election. The party has traditionally used a co-leadership model, but it said on Wednesday that it would not elect a new female co-leader until its 2018 party conference.

Mrs. Turei’s resignation came eight days after Andrew Little resigned as leader of the opposition Labour Party, which was taken over by his deputy, Jacinda Ardern. Her ascension appears to have turned around the party’s sagging fortunes, as it has risen in the polls to 33 percent from 24 percent a week ago, with the Greens dropping to 8 percent from 15 percent, according to Newshub-Reid Research. The National Party has continued to hold a steady lead at 44 percent.

In New Zealand’s parliamentary system, smaller parties typically build coalitions with one of the two largest parties so they can pass legislation. Should the current polling hold up through the election, Ms. Ardern would most likely have to rely on the Green Party to form a left-leaning coalition government to prevent the National Party from maintaining control.

On Friday, as Mrs. Turei faced fallout, she announced she would not seek a cabinet post in a coalition government with Labour. And on Wednesday, she stood by her decision to reveal that she had lied to the government to make ends meet but said that she would be an impediment to the Greens’ forming a government.